Panforte

• serves

  10-12

• cook

  1 hour

Ingredients

• 120 g walnuts, shelled
• 60 g dried figs, finely chopped
• 300 g whole almonds, shelled
• 130 g candied orange and lemon rind, finely chopped
• 1 pinch ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch nutmeg
• 1 pinch ground cloves
• 1 pinch white peppercorns
• 100 g cocoa powder, unsweetened
• 180 g icing sugar
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 5 tbsp honey
• rice paper for the baking tray

Instructions

Bake the almonds and the walnuts on a baking tray in a preheated oven on 200°C. After about 4 minutes, remove them from the oven and allow them to cool a little before finely chopping them. You can use a food processor to do this.

Put the chopped nuts, figs, candied citrus rind, spices and the cocoa powder in a large bowl, mix them together and set aside.

Put the sugar and honey in a clean bowl over a pot of simmering water, after about 8 minutes it should have combined. Dip a spoon into the mixture and lift it out, if the mix forms a thread (a bit like toffee) its ready. Cook longer if it's not quite there.

Stir the flour into the honey mixture and then fold into the fig and nut mix, stir to combine.

Line a baking tray with paper, pour in the mixture and press it down using your fingers so its about 2cm thick and even.

Bake for about 45 minutes in a preheated oven on 180°C.

Cool on a rack.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.